The little child had been woken up by the urge to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. After she had gone, she vaguely heard a voice in the sound that seemed like her dad’s. At first, Aino thought that it came from her parent's bedroom. However, she saw that the door was just lightly shut and only her mother alone was sound asleep in there. Aino did not want to disturb her mother. She tip-toed barefooted and came to the balcony instead. Sure enough, it was her dad on the phone. She heard her dad mention her name, and she also heard that her name seemed to be mentioned on the other end of the line. Aino was very curious, so she called out to her dad behind him.
Sebastian turned his head around and saw his daughter, who was wearing floral-patterned pajamas, standing behind him barefoot. He reached his hand out and hugged her in his arms. "It's nothing, baby. Go to bed."
"Aino! Aino! Is it Aino?" Holden shouted excitedly on the other end of the line as soon as he heard Aino's voice.
Aino heard him, and she looked at her dad with a questioning gaze. "Is that Uncle Holden?”
Sebastian had no choice but to nod. "Mm-hmm."
On the other end of the line, Holden urgently shouted," B*stard! Let Aino answer the phone or I'll kill you!"
Sebastian was speechless. It has been almost seven years, and no one had threatened him like this. Even Sabrina had never threatened him like this, but he actually let this b*stard on the other end of the line threaten him. At that moment, Sebastian wanted to yell at the other party very badly. "You're the f*cking b* stard! Aino is my daughter! My daughter!"
However, he did not say anything. He just put the phone to Aino's ear, then gently said to Aino, "Aino, this is your uncle. My brother."
After saying that, Sebastian could not help but smile bitterly. He suddenly realized that for a person living i n this world, even though one may be extremely powerful and rich, one would still have moments of being helpless and being scolded by someone else, just as how he was at that moment. 1
At the end, Aino already called out, "Uncle Holden, is that you?"
It was in the middle of the night and the little child was actually still in a half-asleep state, so that childish sweet voice had a thick nasal tone, which sounded gentle. Her voice immediately washed away all of the hostility all over Holden. Holden suddenly burst into tears like a child. He collapsed in front of the small room's door. When he heard Aino's voice, Holden curled up, and the door was instantly unguarded. He was only focused on being curled up, crying and snorting his nose. After that, he tried his best to change his voice so he did not sound choked u p. "Aino, I...I miss you very much." "Uncle Holden, don't cry. I have lots of snacks saved u p for you. Don’t cry. When you return, you must finish them all."
“Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay, Aino. But Aino, why did someone tell me that you said you hated me? Do you hate me?"
Aino suddenly felt a little guilty. She had just said that she hated her Uncle Holden in front of her grandma that morning. However, she just said those things in a moment of anger. Aino sincerely apologized. "I'm sorry, Uncle Holden. I didn't mean it when I said that. I t was because...because I hated grandma at that time, then only I said that about you. I don't hate you, Uncle Holden."
Holden immediately laughed. "Then that's good. I thought that you no longer liked me."
Aino immediately coaxed him, "Uncle Holden, don't be sad. I even saw Miss Minerva yesterday. She got even prettier.”
"Minerva?" Holden's heart softened a little. He gently asked, "Is your Miss Nerva alright? Does she...still have money on her to spend? Tell me if she doesn’t have any money to spend anymore. I will give her some money.”
He thought of his niece. For so many years on Star Island in the past, he had never cared for her. Later on, the entire Payne family had been broken into pieces, only then did Holden know to take care of his niece a little.
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